BRIGHT PRECIOUS THINGS.

[Intro]
Yeah
Left side, left side, hey
Right side, right side, whoa
Hah, hah

[Pre-Hook]
Lift me up
Don't need you to hold me down
I need you to pick me up
If I'm ever underground, promise that you'll dig me up
I was lost, and now I'm found
Is it head, heart, or gut
Loyalty or slavery, don't leave me stuck

[Hook]
We were bright precious things, but those things fade fast
Cherish time, cause it's something that you can't take back
Fly away, but nothing's bound to be the same when you land
Come and find me

[Verse]
Caught in a web of maliciousness since adolеscence
I struggle to disеngage
I've been exposed to some remedies
Seen the folks I love handle it different ways
Trauma done muddied my memories
Gaslit for a while so I'm feeling plagued
So sick of who I pretend to be
Plenty who fantasize ending me
Whether my skin or the house that I'm in is the reason you hate or you feel enraged
I struggle too while you envy me
We're walking in circles while in a cage
Battered and beaten by inner demons
Everything I'm seeing makes me feel enslaved
To a higher being, I begin to pray
For skin so tough, it could bend a blade
For them and us, I've been afraid
Cause human nature ain't meant to save
Shot off your high horse, for love or lust
You just find yourself digging deeper graves
Blood thicker than water, but they're both essential
Both stain the ground, it's what the people crave
Please God forgive them for their evil ways
Some persevere and some people cave
Do I live as a martyr or do I die one
Baptized in lies, so how do we escape
Saw all y'all lives and want a different outcome
But still can't help it to repeat mistakes
All about a dollar, can't survive without some
Look what we became
Just bullet bags, we're severely outgunned
Result of trauma being recreated
That's what they call us, but we're sedated
Creatively, rarely are we outdone
In every direction, you gon' see the hatred
With all these prayers, how am I without one
Siblings, parents inebriated
All the doubts I won't ever outrun
Wish the pain was alleviated
But I'm harboring all of my energy just for the sake of my baby
My heart has been way too open too often
The thought of me breaking just taking us far from each other
My goal every day is avoiding the coffin like you
Get to the money, get back to my honey, I'm trying to give it my all like you
But in reality, you know America's got me by the balls like you
Every bottle of alcohol is my proof
Pray to your God that you never relapse
Pray that you never end up with loose lips and eventually fall for the trap
Know I've got feelings like everyone else
Baby, I just can't feel them like everyone else
So you ask, "What good is a train of thought when you're all the way off the tracks?"
And their insecurities shine like ten times brighter than these diamonds
Know two kids whose parents would rather them homeschooled than have police find them
Four centuries of divine White interference
Been hogging the limelight
Even with hindsight, we just keep trying to be inclusive
Let them infiltrate and wonder why we only monetize plight
We're the coolest only when we're dying, we're dunking the ball, or know how to rhyme nice
The youth is polluted with lies, encouraging non-Blacks to shorten our flight
Ironic how because we glorify it, other cultures try to live our life, huh
The longer you entertain what ain't for you
The longer you postpone what is
They always say love is life, but it's what you love
The part folks gon' forget
Enlist and deploy
I don't know a single thing about her pain
But the second a catcall is ignored, she's called every single thing but her name
The second a Black home is destroyed
Objectification, abrasive behavior and self deprecation to eat at her brain
Sins of the father imprison us all
Shut up and dribble or stay in your lane
Imperative y'all made aware of the lingering narrative
I can't want better for you but love AmeriKKKa

[Hook]
You say there's no cause for concern, but I beg to differ
Regardless of laws I learn, I'm still the forbidden word to you
And as a result, you're still nothing to me
So we stay at odds, and there's no such thing as even round these parts
And not a drug can help me filter out these thoughts in my mind
Running from my past, but cannot hide
So don't believe me when you hear me saying I'm fine